There is no evidence of the Sabbath having been abrogated by Christ or the Apostles, but St Paul declared its observance was not binding on Gentile converts, who soon formed the majority of those converted to the faith; and in Col. ii. 16, he classes it along with the feasts of the new moon. Accordingly, the observance of the Sabbath fell more and more into the background, yet not without leaving some traces behind.[4] It appears at first to have rather existed side by side with Sunday.[5] Among the Christians, the first day of the Jewish week, the _prima sabbati_, the present Sunday, was held in honour as the day of our Lord’s resurrection and was called the Lord’s Day.[6] This name took the place of the name _dies solis_, formerly in use among the Greeks and Romans. The different days of the week were named after the heavenly bodies, which in turn took their names from the chief divinities of heathen mythology. Thus the names _dies solis_, _lunæ_, _Martis_, etc., were very general and widespread in antiquity. The Christians did not employ these titles for liturgical purposes, but called the week-days simply _feriæ_, and distinguished them merely by numbers.[7] In the romance languages the ecclesiastical name for Sunday, _dies dominica_, has quite taken the place of all others. These names were already in use in the Apostolic period, and Sunday was the day on which the eucharistic worship of God was performed.[8] Christian worship in the earliest time consisted of two parts. Already, in the letters of Pliny, we find mention of a nocturnal service of preparation at which psalms were sung, prayers recited, and passages read from Holy Scripture. The eucharistic part of the service followed at dawn. These two parts appear sharply distinguished, especially in the diary of Silvia (or Etheria). The vigil service developed out of the first part. The second part in Silvia’s diary usually bears the name of _Oblatio_, while the term _missa_ denotes merely the dismissal of the faithful and the respective divisions of the psalmody.[9] There also seems to have been a general confession of sins at the commencement of the service, which explains the exhortation of the “Teaching of the Apostles,” that the faithful should confess their sins on Sunday. At any rate, Eusebius plainly refers to the practice, and adds, “We, the adherents of the New Covenant, are constantly nourished by the Body of Christ; we continually partake of the Blood of the Lamb, and celebrate every week on Sunday the mysteries of the true Lamb, by Whom we have been redeemed.”[10] Upon the cessation of persecution, the present arrangement of divine service soon became established—that is to say, Mass and Sermon at nine A.M., with Vespers and Compline as popular devotions in the afternoon.